Actual Budget vs Tiller
Actual Budget vs Tiller: App or Spreadsheet?
These two appeal to the same person from opposite directions. Actual Budget is a free, open-source app you run yourself, built around a strict zero-based envelope method. Tiller skips the app entirely and pipes your bank transactions into a Google Sheet or Excel workbook every day. The real question is whether you want to own the software or own the spreadsheet.
Actual Budget vs Tiller: feature comparison
Feature comparison of Actual Budget, Tiller and Auritrack
| Feature | Actual Budget | Tiller | Auritrack |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI chat expense tracking | No | No | Yes |
| AI bookkeeping & categorization | NoRules-based, manual by design | AutoCat rules inside the sheet | Yes |
| Automatic bank sync | Via SimpleFIN or GoCardless add-ons | YesDaily feed into Sheets or Excel | On the roadmap; statement import today |
| Bank-statement import (PDF/CSV/Excel) | YesCSV, OFX and QFX import | Manual import into the sheet | YesPDF, CSV or Excel, read by AI |
| Budgeting | YesZero-based envelope budgeting | YesPrebuilt budget templates | Yes |
| Savings goals | YesCategory targets and schedules | Via templates | Yes |
| Invoicing | No | No | Small-business records and reports |
| Receipt scanning | No | No | Yes |
| All currencies with live conversion | NoOne currency per budget | Only if you build it in the sheet | YesLive exchange rates |
| Data export (PDF/CSV) | YesFull data ownership, export anytime | YesIt is your spreadsheet | YesPDF and CSV anytime |
| Telegram tracking | No | No | Yes@auritrack_bot |
| Investment tracking | No | Account balances only | No |
| Shared / household accounts | YesMulti-user on self-hosted setups | YesShare the sheet | Yes |
| Sells your data to advertisers | NoLocal-first, data stays with you | No | No |
| Price | Free (open source) | $79/yr | Free tier + AI from $3/mo |
Which of the two should you pick?
Where Actual Budget wins
- Free and fully open source — no subscription for the app itself
- Local-first: your data stays with you, not on a vendor server
- A disciplined zero-based envelope budget out of the box
- Self-hostable with optional encryption for full privacy
Where Tiller wins
- Daily automatic bank feeds straight into Sheets or Excel
- Total spreadsheet flexibility — build any formula or report you want
- A huge library of prebuilt templates to start from
- AutoCat rules categorize transactions inside the sheet
A third option: Auritrack
Both of these ask you to do the upkeep yourself — Actual through deliberate manual entry, Tiller through spreadsheet maintenance. Auritrack takes the opposite approach: an AI logs and categorizes your spending from a chat message or an uploaded statement, so there is no server to host and no sheet to tend. It runs on a free tier for the manual side, with AI features from $3/month, and imports a CSV from either tool.
The verdict
Choose Actual Budget if you want a free, private, method-driven budget and do not mind a bit of technical setup. Choose Tiller if you live in spreadsheets and want your bank data delivered there automatically, and the $79/year is worth the flexibility. If neither the self-hosting nor the spreadsheet appeals, an AI tracker like Auritrack does the categorizing for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Want to dig into one of them on its own? Read the Actual Budget guide or the Tiller guide, each an honest look at where that tool wins and where Auritrack fits.
Comparisons reflect our understanding of each product at the time of writing and may change; check each provider’s site for current pricing and features. Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. This page is general information, not financial advice.